One-time Syracuse resident honored at White House for work in Haiti

submitted photoMia Beers at the White House.Syracuse, NY -- She didn’t like heat, bugs, strange food or not sleeping in her own bed as a child, according to her mother, but on Wednesday Mia Beers was honored at the White House for her work in helping Haiti in the days after the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated that country.

Beers, who grew up in Syracuse and attended Nottingham High School, was one of a hundred or so officials thanked at a Rose Garden ceremony hosted by President Obama and attended by Haitian President Rene Preval.

Beers’ mother, Jean Beers still lives in Syracuse and noted Wednesday was also her daughter’s 37th birthday.

Mia Beers has been with the U.S. Agency for International Development for a dozen years, traveling to disaster spots around the world. She’s been in Somalia, Beirut, Indonesia after the 2006 tsunami, and for six weeks following the January earthquake, in Haiti, where the official death toll is more than 200,000.

At Wednesday’s White House event, Obama said America remained committed to helping Haiti deal with “one of the most devastating disasters to ever strike our hemisphere.”

Mia Beers said the U.S. has contributed more than $700 million to disaster relief in Haiti and her job was to help coordinate that assistance.

Jean Beers said her daughter got interested in international work while attending Russell Sage College. After college, did volunteer work and, before joining USAID, worked for aid organization CARE.

“It’s something she always wanted to do,” said Jean Beers.

Asked if she worries about her daughter being in so many disaster areas, Jean Beers said, “I tell her every one of my non-pigmented hairs has a story.”